So what’s it gonna be for Colorado’s 2008 duck hunting season along the South Platte River east of Greeley? Just 3 days of hunting each week on part of the river? All of the river?

Will goose hunting be allowed? How about quail and turkey and deer?

The last of 5 public meetings to chew on the topic ended Tuesday night in Denver. These voluminous, and often heated, comments came on top of the recommedations of a blue-ribbon panel appoinited by the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

When rains falls on the Front Range like today, localÂ paddlers get giddy. Their mostly dam-controlled rivers go big when the rain pounds metro Denver. Playparks like Union and Confluence on the South Platte change significantly in a deluge. The dam on top of Union tranforms into a glassy wave at 3,000 cfs. The park at Confluence becomes aÂ wave-trained wash at 5,000 cfs. Bear Creek rises from a trickle to a Class V creek. Clear Creek comes alive. And when the South PlatteÂ reaches the many-thousand cfs level, a new riverÂ emerges as it becomes a drain forÂ the city’s bathwater. It’s not always pretty – especially during the first hours of the city’s bath -Â but it’sÂ a different experience in the same place.

It’s been more than a decade since some ofÂ the SouthÂ Platte’s hiddenÂ waves cameÂ alive. Like the Trestle Wave, downriver from the Denver skatepark, which emerged for a fleeting few hours Tuesday. With shoreside paddlers watching forÂ lightpoles, coolers, multi-limbed trees and other kayaker-snagging urban debris washing down the Platte, nose-and-ear-plugged paddlers relished the rare wave.Â When the Platte peaked at a little more than 5,000 cfs Tuesday afternoon, theÂ bus-sized wave bobbedÂ from her watery denÂ deliveringÂ Denver boatersÂ the rarest of treats.

[photopress:P1010997_1_1.jpg,full,centered]

Lyle Phetteplace of Renaissance Adventure Guides enjoys a new surf where the old 16th St. Dam once lie.

[photopress:P1020044.jpg,full,centered]

It’s another day at the office for Confluence Kayaks manager Don Dowling (orange) and owner Jon Kahn (blue) as they surf the once-a-decade Trestle Wave.